Tuesday, December 30, 2008

2. The Olympics were Awesome! Swimming, Gymnastics, Volleyball-I was on the edge of my seat for 2 weeks! 3. Michael Phelps won his 10,000 metals 4. O. J. Simpson's ass was finally put in jail. Now we don't had to see him using Florida as his Playground 5. Adopting a Feral kitten, Mau'i

6. Meeting online friends : )

7. Starting to Learn PSP & joining LiLA8. Getting a nice Wooden Deck

9. The RAY's went to the World Series

10. My friends took me out for Breakfast, Shopping, and Dinner on my Birthday

Monday, December 29, 2008

My son showed up late for dinner Thursday, and still under the influence from the previous few days and I have no idea what else he was on when he arrived. The holidays do mean a celebration of Love to me. When I was giving my son his gifts he handed me a card that appeared like it was the last lonely card on the shelf at 7-11 and that he probably picked it up on his way here. I found myself wondering if I wanted to give him his last gift, a digital camera. Yes I did. I just couldn't find it in my heart not to.

I am hurt, though. And will have a talk with him about his selfishness and drinking binge. We do talk about these things, but I know that when a person is drunk that is not the time to confront.

Soooo...on to the good part of the weekend!

Shelly (xxRoxyxx), her hubby, and son picked me up and we went down to Nokomis beach Saturday afternoon. It's about a 1 1/2 hour drive from here. Shelly and I talked the entire way down. We met up with Sharon (tpiez4me) and Angie (from Ohio). I had never met Angie before. We hugged, sat on the beach, watched the sunset, listened to the drummer's, & watched the dancer's. A great time with great people. Then off to Pop's Sunset Grill for dinner and much more talking. And what did we talk about?

PSP of course!

These are some of the Drummer's at the Drum Circle

Dancer

This dancer was shake, shake, shakin' those ta-ta's

A Snowman made of Sea Urchin's that Sharon's daughter & I found on the beach

Kite flying

Sunny Set

Here you can see Venus, bright and high in the sky. I believe that is Jupiter in the center and right, lower in the sky. But, it could be an Orb. Shelly's photo's were full of Orb's.

After the sun was gone for a while we hung out and listened to the drums for a while and watched the dancing chicks dance with lit hula hoops.

Then went to Pop's Sunset Grill which was a beach bar on the water.

~The Food~

Shelly and Sharon had Coconut Shrimp.

I had some very sweet and succulent Fried Oysters

HERE WE ARE....

3 Amiga's

The flowers in Shelly and Sharon's hair were bought for them by their children.

Well sort of, they begged the money off their Mama's.

Then while we were waiting for our food Sharon went and got one for me. Wasn't that the nicest! Mine is on the right side because I am a single woman. Jake got a case of the giggles when he heard that his Mom and Sharon had to wear theirs on the left because they are married. LOL~ Now that I look at the pic's I laugh too. They are really BIG flowers!

Friday, December 26, 2008

This morning I didn't hear Miss Mau'i until nearly 7 am when she was pulling & banging the crate door with her paws. HARD! So I went out and opened the door, picked her up to give her some love and she had wet herself and the quilted bedding cage. Poor girl didn't have enough room to sit upright to potty and got herself all wet. This the first time she had and accident in her bedding. I felt sooooo bad. She usually wakes up at 6 am and may have been banging the door for me to let her out for an hour.

I got her food and water and set it plus the crate out on the deck. I took my usual morning pills plus some Tylenol for the hip and leg pain. I had fallen back to sleep when I heard a "errr-eeeee-OOOOWWWWW!"

I jump out of bed, looked out the sliding glass door and there was "Poppie", the big orange & blacktailess cat running away. The food I had put out on the deck when I let Mau'i out was was all gone, the rug was scrunched up, the wicker furniture askew. Mau'i looked up at me and quietly said, "meuwww, meuwww". He obviously had eaten all her food and she was saying "No, you can't have MY food anymore!".

Now I don't know which one of them made the cat screams, but today Mau'i got in her 1st cat fight.

For Lyn

I sure do hope that everyone had a warm and family filled holiday. If I'm not mistaken today is Boxing Day in the UK, the first day of Kwanzaa and the last day of Chanukah.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

I went to the Holiday Social tonight. It was a BYOB and a appetizer or dessert. I wasn't intending on going, but on the way back from doing laundry a couple I know asked me if I wanted to go and sit with them. I still had clothes on the line and took some guff for doing laundry on "Christmas Eve" day. But, my daughter will be here in a week and I needed to wash blankets and definitely the towels I used for drying the dog after her bath the other day.

I came home, put eggs on the stove for the deviled eggs for tomorrow, rinsed the shower curtain I had bleaching in the tub, took a quick shower. neighbor man stopped by to ask me if I wanted to go for a beer while I was folding the laundry. No, couldn't do tonight.

The social was nice, the eats delicious. My cookies were a hit.I still have presents to wrap. The house is a mess. And my legs are burning and painful. Luckily, my son said he wouldn't get here until "11:30 to 1:30". Probably 2:30, but most likely 5:30. No worries though. I'm going to dinner in the Recreation Hall at 3. Marc or no Marc. I have no food defrosted, so he won't eat that's all. I'm putting my foot down and reminding him that time with his mother actually does come before his friends. Maybe it won't come to that.

Monday, December 22, 2008

I've had lots of surpirses this year. Firstly, my cousin, Danelle that I haven't heard in 8 yrs sent me a card. She and her b/f are now living in Flordia. And only about an hour away in Orlando. My Aunt & Uncle from North Carolina are going to be visiting her, as well as her brother from Austin. She sent her Email addy and I am hoping some how to try to get over there for a visit.

Saturday, Shelly (xxRoxyxx) from Tampa & her hubby are coming to pick me up. We will then travel south along the coast to a place near Venice, called Nokomis. We are going to a resturant and then to a Drum Circle on the beach with Martha from Sarasota and Sharon (Southern Comfort) from North Carolina.

Did you know Floridians refer to North Carlolina as "Upstate Florida"?

Many native Floridians dream of retirement and go to live in NC. I hear they even get snow there.

I woke up yesterday and I swear I had a bug. Whahoooo, it was a PSP bug. I had found some art I liked and the images were running through my head. So before the holiday season runs out I better get posting.

I also found out that my daughter is coming to visit January 1st. When I asked her where she was staying she said, "With You".

Great : /

I am hardly prepared for Christmas, let alone company. Yes, my daughter is the princess of the family & likes to be treated that way. I better not say anything she doesn't like, because she'll definately set me straight : / This time last year I had gone to Chicago and Colorado. She didn't like the dinner I prepared, I made cream corn. I should have known that she didn't like it (she hasn't lived home in 10 yrs). I said all the wrong things in front of Eric & his family. I was suppose to sit at the dining room table where she told me to stay and not do anything, but when I did was told I was lazy. When she and I went shopping along Michigan Ave. We sat to have dinner at the Bubba Gump's on Pier in Chicago, she let me know all the things I had done wrong that week. Then gave me list of all the wonderful tributes of Eric's family. The girl had me going in circles. And I'll admit I was horribly depressed after that week.

She jokes about how her brother is 31, going on 21. Well, no. She doesn't ever, ever joke. Sometimes I swear she is stuck on that moody number 13. I can only pray she doesn't get her period while she is here in January.

I love my kids. There is no doubt about that. Part of that love is dealing with the ups & downs. I am trying to think if there is a way I can guide her past the issues she carries. The divorce when she was year old, the isolation her father and step mother imposed, the move to Florida, and the restricitons she felt were too harsh when she was a teen.

I am giving this some thought over the next week. Not going to harp on it ,though. I am thinking happy thoughts, being postiive and hoping that motion will stay in motion.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

There is a show on in the afternoon's called The Dr's or The MD's or something similar. It's a show much like "The View", only with 4 Dr's arguing, each talking over each other trying to prove that their point is the ONLY point.

This week there was a segment on "Home Remedies". One of the "Home Remedies" videos featured a woman who used nail polish on her son's plantar wart. It was old, gloppy & had laid in a drawer forever. She put it on for 3 days, picked off the polish & VIOLA, wart came off.

I have wart on the inside of my big toe, right above where the strap to my flip flops rub. I tried to freeze it off. Didn't work. My question is.....

Monday, December 15, 2008

and the results of another LILA "Show Me What You Got" contest are in.

I entered both of these.

And Whahoooo!!

The one below got 3rd place. There are so many entries for this contest now-about 20. I was surprised it got votes because many in the group don't care for SAC.

Me? Most SAC I don't mind most SAC except "crotch shots".

Holy crap, it just dawned on me why! I see enough lady crotches when at work. Gee, I wonder how many that would be over a 25 yr nursing carreer?

Yikes!!

Snag or I can tag

Yes, I've been a bit competitive ::grin::

Maybe it's the only part of my Type A personality that continues to exist. I don't know.

Notice how well these graphics match my Blog Template?

The scrap kit we were given to work with is the same one I had used to create my Journal Background 4 weeks ago! This was not a good thing, as it took me forever to come up with something.

Everything I made looked like this template!

I finally got Nicolle & Marc their big Yule presents today. Nicci had mentioned she wanted a camera. When I asked Marc to find out if she ever got one, he whined "Maaaa, I want one". OK, that was easy shopping this year. I had picked up 4 glass ornaments at the Strawberry Festival last March. One for each kid, one for son-in-law and an extra for a g/f Marc may or may not have. Or to keep if he didn't.

I'll be making cookies and sending chocolates up to the kids in Chicago. Marc will graze on the cookies and chocolates I have here. And I'll be making cookies, or maybe fudge for neighbors.

Can you tell I'm stressed about this. NOT! I had enough stress when the kids were young and I was worried about how I was going to make a nice Christmas for them. I'd try, like I do now, to purchase 1 "big gift" and couple little ones. The funny thing was that no matter how little money there was or how little there was under the Christmas bush. It was all good to them. I think that they enjoyed the little brunch I'd put together more anything.

Friday, December 12, 2008

Yes, Im just posting a couple of tags I've done today. I know I need to do a story hour. It's time. I just can't seem to concentrate in words these days.

I got my twinkle lights up on the deck and on the little "Charle Brown" tree along side the trailer. Poor thing is a Ficus tree that I planted 4-5 yrs ago. As pitiful as it looks, it still survives. Either it doesn't get enough sun or the soil is too nutrient deprived.

Poor Charlie Brown.

Still haven't gotten my cards out yet. I guess I better get with the program. I need to get the Post Office and do some shopping also.

Has your weather been rainy and blustery? I actually thought it was going to snow this morning. We has a fine misty rain on a cold morning. Forties...I know not cold enough, but we never get a misty rain.

We have sun or downpours. Nothing in between. Hey, if it snows in New Orelans, it could happen here. I've heard that it did snow here, back in the 80's, from a friend that has lived here all her life.

Well, I'm off to get the girl-animals settled for bed, then myself.

I'm posting a couple of the tags I've done. Gosh, I done tons of them & if I don't post them they'll sit in my folders.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Marc had stopped by yesterday to take me to Dog Lover's, where I bought the "Girl-Animals" their food for the month. Mau'i is keeps getting bigger and bigger through the middle. I only feed her 1/2 cup of dry food in the morning, 1/2 in the evening. I think someone else maybe feeding her as I find it hard to beleive that she is getting fat on bugs and lizards. Instead of Meow Mix, I bought some "Professional" kitten kibbles. At least this way she'll get nutrition if she is "eating out"

Poor Jazzy has hot spots and has been itchy. I noticed after being out yesterday my little place smelled like "wet dog". I htought initially it was the carpet that had a dog smell, but now I think it is from her licking her hair so much. Gave her a bath today, dried her & I put some Tea Tree oil on the hot spots. She won't lick that stuff. It smells a bit like eucalyptus. AND my palce no longer smells like wet dog, it smells like Vicks Rub.

Thank you Missie. Your card with the first holiday card I recieved this year : )

I didn't feel like fighting the crowds at Walmart today so I stayed home and just doodled with PSP. I guess I am thinking about all the Yule shopping to do for the kids, friends and family. And how I am going to be doing last minute wrapping and shipping again this year.

If you'd like one of the tags above, please leave a comment and I'll need your email addy please.

Friday, December 5, 2008

Yesterday, Carol, who most of you know as Lazarai, Robin aka RobinGabster, and I met in Dunedin for shopping & lunch. Dunedin is a nice community with a Main Street of really nice shops. Not the usual tacky beach shops full of the same 'ol cheap junk. Some are antique stores, Celtic Shops, & some with Beachy signs and wind chimes. Many of them have wine tasting. And don't you know we were just in time for Happy Hour-10 am!

Gosh I need to drink more often. I was getting buzzed after a few little cups. The first "shot" Robin and I had was a Chocolate Raspberry Port. Mmmmm, I was intrigued : ) Doesn't it sound Luscious? And oh, it was!Then we tried a Kiwi Pear Ice wine, then another ice wine with had a Plum raisin taste. We were about to stop there until the woman opened a bottle called Orange Sunset. How could we resist? What I didn't notice, and Carol point out later, is that the woman opening the wines was drinking with us and usually pouring twice as much for herself behind the counter. LOL!

We wandered through some little shops. Yick- yakking all the way. Those 2 were mocking me because I had bought a pair of rose colored sketcher's the day before that happened to have a skull on the side. Seemed like every time we turned around there was something with a pirate theme and yes, skulls. Skull t-shirts, skull bracelets, skull hats, skull sunglasses, cutsy skulls, sexy shulls, creepy skulls, ugly skulls. I never noticed how "IN" skulls were. Nor would I have noticed except those 2 were teasing me about my new shoes. Then we went over to a place called Kelly's Chic-a-Boom for lunch.

The web site is kind of cool. Run your cursor over the shops and click Kelly's and you will see the patio where we had lunch.

Carol had an appointment to have her hair cut at a hairdresser on the same block. We hugged good-bye and I crawled up into Robin's Monster Truck. What do I see? She had skull floor mats, skull dangling thing from the mirror, and then she plugged in a night light thing in to the cigarette lighter. What else? A glowing SKULL!

We pulled off Main street and took a quick look at the Sunset Park where there Marina and Bon Appetit Restaurant is. Saturday is the Holiday Boat Parade. I've seen the night time boat parade with the boats light up with sound systems reveling carols.

We then headed north on Alternate 19, about 2 miles, took a right onto the Dunedin Causeway where I insisted she must see Honeymoon Island, the #1 beach in the country. We drove out the island road, we saw the fishermen waist deep in water fishing with long rod's, kayak's, sailboat's, and cars parked along the causeway beaches on our right and left. We approached the State Park entrance, asked if we could take a quick drive in to see the beach. The woman said No and it cost 5 bucks for the 2 of us for the day. robin asked if we could just turn around and I said yes, she is from Tampa and has to pick her daughter up from school. Truth, yes. And she cocked her head & said "Go Ahead". I insisted that we must put our feet in the sand and I think Robin was glad I did. We waked down the wooden walkway the winds through the Oat Grass where at the end was the bluest of blue water, & the sun glistening off theater. Robin took a few picture's of the beach water and wild life as I quickly looked for sand dollar's or some unique shells for Gabby. No luck. But, the pic's that Robin took reflect the crisp blues and whites of the beach.

Yes, Clearwater Beach is nice, so are some of the beaches of Tampa Bay. Honeymoon Island State Park is "old time" Florida with natural beaches and wildlife preserve. Robin said that she knew Michael would love it. So I hope she brings her hubby, and little dog, Princess.

Robin brought her camera & Carol talked the waiter into taking a picture. Cute guy, nice bod. Poor guy didn't have a chance to get away from us three. Carol did it again...closed her eyes.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

This was one of two tags I entered in LILA's "Show me What You Got" contest. I absolutely love the scrapkit that we were given to work with. I am not one for pastels,but this kit has the most fabulous Papers & elements. No, I didn't win, or even come in the top 3. Although the woman who runs the competion said that the results were extremely close. The ladies that did win are new to the group and extremely talented. Gorgeous, gorgeous tags.This tag reminds me of Donna holding her "Bear" in the photo's she posted of her Thanksgiving. ::waving HI to D::Other news. I know I never talk about my patients. Mostly because of me...feeling that I don't want to invade my patent's privacy by putting it out there on the "Inter Web". It's just a thing with me, I guess. This wkend I was 2nd on-call instead of 3rd on-call at the Birthing Center. We had 6 women "ready". I don't know what it is about Thanksgiving weekend, but we always get a frenzy of births. I had got a call a Mom was coming in for her second birth. Mom arrived got comfy. Well, in bed. I don't know how comfy she was. She WAS having a baby afterall. Twelve minutes after she arrived she delivered a 9 lb 3 oz baby baby. I thought she was throwing a football at me. Whew!! That was a close one. Good thing she didn't wait any longer to come in. Holiday babies are special. I've always loved being in the hospital on the holidays, its such a warm feeling to give a little extra to patients who can't be home for the holidays.

*Stay warm y'all. I know if WE have frost warning, you all are freakin' freezing.

When my son planned the day he told me he was going to pick me up to go to most recent g/f's house at 9:30 am. Actual pick up time...11:30 am.

Deena is the one who is 8 yrs older than Marc. One day while she was visitng at my place, I was talking with Deena. Marc was outside having a cigarette when he texted me with a note saying that he "can tell what she is going to look like when she gets old, because she already IS!"

She has a 7 yr old Autistic son. He is nonverbal except for "Ga" for "Go" and I-O-Aww sounds. He doesn't like to look at people, but I expected that. He did do a "fist bump" with me when I put my hand up. Later he did come & lean up against me to see what I was working on in PSP on my laptop, when everyone else was sleeping on the couch and floor. Then later when Marc and I were leaving, his Mom told him to give me a hug and he leaned into me so I could hug him. That is what he does with his Mom also.

His thing is to fast forward and back track the DVR, over and over the same scene of a movie or commercial. He loves the credits at the end of movies and would rewind, watch and rewind the credits over and over & over & over. And there is a Disney commercial with Firworks that he absolututely loves.

Everyone in the room had fallen asleep, but he & I. Iean bag seat on the floor in front of the TV. All of a sudden the volume went to a loud roar. Then the sound would go quiet just as fast as it went loud. LOL! He was operating the channels and rewinding using the remote while he was turning the sound up and down using his toes.

And then there was the friend, Becky who had a 16 yr old daughter and a 9 yr old son with ADHD. He was being very good, playing soldiers with those little plastic guys in the Lanai. The 16 yr old went out to sit in the Lanai and the mother tells her to play "soldier's" with the boy. The daughter said, "But, Mom it's soooo Boring" Then the mother tells her not to say that. "Well, Mom it is".Well, yeah! What 16 yr old girl wants to play "soldiers" with her 9 yr old little brother. Come on, we know her idea of fun is talking with her B/F on the phone.

After dinner the 9 yr old got a little bored & was doing some somersaults on the living room floor. To which the Becky said, she is afraid he son is going to break his neck. She was serious.

Oh, and then when the 16 yr old was in the kitchen Deena poured her a glass of wine. Not a wine glass, but a water goblet. The 16 yr old sat down at the counter & drank the wine quietly while everyone else was watching TV (sort of-see above). I looked up ( I was the only one who could see her) she went back for 2 refills......then she also fell asleep on the floor.

The food? We didn't have turkey. Deena said she didn't know how to roast one. She had bought a Honey-Baked Ham. That's Okay. But, Deena didn't know she should warm the ham up in the oven, so we ate it cold. The dressing, the carrots were also cold. My son made the mashed potatoes. He's been doing them since he was about 9 yrs old. He makes wonderful mashed taters : ) The items I brought, scalloped oysters, asparagus with cheese sauce, pumpkin pie, well, I could put my hands on them and I warmed them for serving. Deena's son didn't eat with us. He sat at the counter on a stool and had pizza. He likes to pinch off a piece to put in his mouth, smell it, taste it, then take small nibbles until it is gone. It all relates to the sensory stimulus he needs.

I tried to stay away from the kitchen, but if we go there for Yule, I'll be stepping into the kitchen and to make sure every thing is timed to be warm at serving time. We sat at a glass table with a tall candle in the middle with a glass hurricane tower around it. We had to duck to the right or left in order to talk with one another. I've got a round table dark red table cloth and it will be a sit down dinner.

So, yes, it a different kind of Thanksgiving: / I ended up totally exhausted by the time I got home around 9 pm. Friday, apparently the FM and RA caught up to me. I not only slept in, but didn't do anything all day but move from the bed to the couch and back again.

Wa-hoooo!! I finally got the tag I had trouble with yesterday to upload for me.

About Me

Hello~I am one of those former military kids that has lived all over the U.S. and then some. I've been journaling about my life the Tampa Bay area for a little over a year now.
I have a former feral kitten named Mau'i and an 11 yr old Maltese Jasmine, Jazzy.